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One document might have prevented WWII

If President Hindenburg’s will had been published the German people might never have given Hitler absolute power

Ben Macintyre

March 14 2014, 12:01am, The Times

‘What if history” is usually “so what history”. What might have happened can never compete with what did.

But very occasionally history throws up a moment that perfectly illustrates the way that tiny decisions can have vast consequences. One such is the story of Hindenburg’s long-lost last will and testament.

The huge trove of MI5 documents declassified earlier this month includes a file on a pre-war German defector by the splendidly bulky name of Baron Fritz Günther von Tschirschky und Bögendorff. This aristocratic diplomat had been a confidant of Paul von Hindenburg, the venerated field marshal who served as Germany’s president from 1925 until his death in 1934.

Tschirschky said he had helped to draft Hindenburg’s last will and testament, in which the dying statesman,…

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